Actually, we need both a merchant account and a credit card gateway. We are in canada, but out website mainly accept US$, so we want to find a credit card gateway which support CAD and USD, of course it is better if it can accept any kink currency. Our demand is simple and relative cheap, accept visa and mastercard is ok, and not necessary to have a SSL.And we don't care where the location of the service provider. As we are new to this, so I think maybe some of you can give us some advice. Some more question: How the complexity is if we need to integrate the gateway on our website, such as a website built with oscommerce? Can the customers don't have to leave our website or guarantee that the customers will auto return our website after they finished the check out?
I use paypal (I am in Canada also), it's easy to use, free to set up and their fees are pretty low. You can set it up so your customers return to your site(any page you wish) after they make a payment. Drawbacks: (1) A few hoops to jump through to get verified, not to bad though. (2) They say 5-7 business days to get money transfered to your bank account, but my last 2 withdrawls can in 3 days. (3) Paypal received a bad rap for freezing accounts, I am hoping they are better now.
You can contact your bank to see about getting a merchant account. iTransact.com accepts Canadian merchants. They have a basic shopping cart you can download called the "Redicart" but I haven't found it overly useful for clients who are signed up with them. Then... I don't know what your needs are. I find it certainly helps to be able to use SSL on your server. Most decent web hosting companies that offer shared servers for hosting can give you a secure URL. That way it makes it easier to create forms for custom scripting. For example, one client I created a script that would accept the order, add the buyer to a mailing list, write the buyers details to a flatfile (excluding the credit card information) and re-direct them to a download page controlled by another cgi script. In many cases though you don't have to have the scripting on your site. You can provide a "buy now" button, and send them to the iTransact website to fill out a form created on the fly. iTransact is a well known gateway provider, and if you wanted to use a interface like 1shoppingcart.com which provides tons of additional features, they accept iTransact merchants. Best Regards, Steve MacLellan
Thank you guys. But First, we already used paypal. The thing is the PayPal Website Payments Pro is "USA Only". We need a credit card payment module that give the customer to pay via credit card and without leaving our sites. By the way, our sites are built by oscommerce, heavily modified. So we also hope find one which relative easy to integrate. Any suggestion? I will check itransact.com, thanks.
clickbank.com is good 2checkout.com (disguisting customer service) Worldpay ( Expensive, very freaky)
We use emerchantdiscount.com Their rates are low and the deposits are quick. I'm not sure if they're USA only.
Worldpay is a fantastic option for OSC, this is easily integrated into the cart and I believe that they accept CAD aswell as USD. Visit their website www.worldpay.com
You have a couple of options. You can use an offshore merchant provider, sign with a local bank, or use a 3rd party processor. A 3rd party processor is paypal, checkout, and others where your business is processing through another company. Between an offshore provider and a local bank, either will be similar. You can expect a setup fee, and monthly fee, but both should have a payment gateway option that is compatible with oscommerce. There are several offshore compatible payment gateways that have direct integration with oscommerce. As far a benefits go, if you business is established the offshore or local bank provider is going to be your best, long term option. You will have virtually unlimited growth, unless you start to get a lot of chargebacks. The processing rate you qualify for should be lower than a 3rd party processor. Probably not lower than paypal, but lower than any other. Over time, the offshore or local merchant account will be cheaper than a 3rd party processor. The setup will be much more involved and will take several days to complete. Conversely, if you are starting up, a 3rd party processor is the best bet. You aren't bound to any contract, and although slightly more expensive, it is much easier and quicker to setup. 3rd party processors will not let you keep your visitors on your site to complete a payment, while a merchant account will. Both sides have their benefits, but the way I look at it is: New Business - Start with 3rd Party Processor until established. Existing with processing history, Offshore or local merchant account.